AUBURN, Ala. (May 9, 2013) – The ETSU women’s golf team did not play like a group intimidated by its surroundings during the first round of the NCAA East Regional Thursday at the Auburn University Club.

Posting a team score of 9-over-par 297, the Buccaneers currently find themselves 11th out of the 24 teams that are chasing a qualifying finish to reach the NCAA Championships later this month in Athens, Ga. The top eight teams advance to the national tournament and ETSU is currently just five strokes back of that coveted position following the opening round.

The Bucs – who were the only unranked team to crack the Top 16 on the leaderboard – watched No. 2 Alabama post an impressive round of 11-under 277 to take a six-stroke advantage over No. 5 Arkansas for the first round team lead. Individually, Arkansas’ Emma Lavy, Alabama’s Emma Talley and Tennessee’s Erica Popson share the top spot with scores of 5-under-par 67.

“Despite a two-week break from tournament play and since our conference championship performance, the team still has the same hunger, focus and momentum that we saw throughout the late part of our season,” said ETSU head coach Stefanie Shelton. “Each person on the team plays with everything they have, and they are leaving it all out there. I’m proud of this team and we are enjoying every moment on the course competing.”

The one player to enjoy the round most on Thursday was freshman Vivienne Chin (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia), who posted a team-best score of even par 72 to tie for 21st individually. Other ETSU results included a pair of 74s from juniors Sian Evans (Gillingham, England) and Lourdes Lopez (Cadiz, Spain), while senior Chloe Garner (Somerset West, South Africa) and sophomore Gabriella Wahl (Heidenheim, Germany) tied for 70th with rounds of 77.

Second and third round play will follow over the next two days. Fans can watch live scoring and get complete results by visiting Golfstat.com, while ETSUBucs.com will provide a complete wrap up of each day’s play.

For more on ETSU women’s golf throughout the season, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s golf link.